Grant Alexander

For the Town Talk

LAFAYETTE, La. -- With six minutes remaining in second round of the Class 4A playoffs, St, Thomas More guard Trey Touchet felt his season slipping away.

Down 48-43 to Tioga High at home, Touchet took it upon himself to do something about it.

First he drove the lane and converter one-of-two free throws after being fouled. Then another pair of free throws pulled the Cougars within one.

Finally, with a man in his face, Touchet rose up and drilled a 3-pointer that incited the crowd to a deafening roar and gave the Cougars their first lead since the first quarter at 49-48.

"I just didn't want to lose," Touchet said. "We'd had too good of a season and I wasn't ready for it to be over."

Touchet scored 12 of the Cougars 16 fourth-quarter points as St. Thomas More knocked off the Indians 57-50 on Friday night.

"We knew that they had blown some big leads against teams this season," said St. Thomas More coach Danny Broussard. "I just kept telling the guys to keep fighting. You're never out of it."

Tioga temporarily regained the lead as Terrence Cobb hit a floater in the lane at the 3:09 mark. But Touchet sunk a pair of free throws that put the Cougars back up 51-50.

As a team the Cougars hit 25-of-29 of their free throws.

"Free throws were big for us tonight," Broussard said. "All season long we've been up and down with our free-throw shooting, and tonight we couldn't miss."

The Cougars nursed that one-point lead for nearly two minutes, thwarting scoring opportunities for the Indians with solid defense and rebounding.

With 1:19 left there was a wild scramble for the ball at mid court. Michael Hicks came out of the pile with the ball. Hicks tossed it to Orynn Veillon in the corner, who penetrated and kicked it to Touchet at the top of the key. The defense collapsed on him and Touchet found a wide open Matt Roberts who laid it in with :51 seconds left, giving the Cougars a more comfortable 53-50 lead.

"We've played in big games all season long," Touchet said. "We've played in front of big crowds and loud crowds. We played a tough schedule and I think that really prepared us for this game."

Tioga jumped out to a 21-15 lead after the first quarter. The Cougars slowly chipped away at that lead, pulling to within 32-31 by halftime.

"They scored 21 points in the first quarter," Broussard said. "Drag that out over four quarters and that's way too many points. We had to tighten up on defense and just overall defend better."

The Indians opened the first half with a 10-0 run, leading by as much as 42-31 with 3:30 left in the third quarter.

Veillon ended the run with a long 3-pointer that seemed to spark the Cougars shooters. Touchet added a 3-pointer a minute later that sparked a 7-0 run to end the quarter with the Indians up 44-41.

"We knew coming in that this was a quality team filled with great players," Broussard said. "I mean they had a 6-8 center and some pretty good forwards and guards. This was a tough match up for us."

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Tioga High falls to St. Thomas More's free throws

Grant AlexanderFor the Town Talksports@thetowntalk.comLAFAYETTE, La. -- With six minutes remaining in second round of the Class 4A playoffs, St, Thomas More guard Trey Touchet felt his season